French Forces

Ace of 1940

Capitaine Jean Accart. In may 1940 he commanded the squadron SPA67 of the fighter group 1/5. On the 10th of may 1940, the first day Accart got the occasion to open fire on enemy planes, he got four confirmed victories, then two the day after. During the campaign of France he scored a total of 12 victories and 4 probable. The campaign ended for him on the 1st of june 1940. While intercepting a group of Luftwaffe bombers, his plane was hit and he received shards in the face and a machinegun bullet between the eyes. Blinded by blood, he managed to get out of his cockpit but his left arm was broken by the speed and he was hit by the tail of his plane. He opened his parachute and ended on the ground, with an open fracture on a leg. He survived. The bullet was stuck in the bone of the skull without touching the brain and was never removed. After recovering he was transfered to the Air School in Salon in the South of France, but in 1943 secretly crossed the Pyrenees and after some time in Franco's jails, managed to join the allies in North Africa and commanded the fighter group "Berry" (RAF 345 Squadron). He fought in the sky of Normandie, the Ruhr, at Arnhem... He retired as a général in 1973.